Nanocomposite Membranes Enhance Bone Regeneration Through Restoring Physiological Electric Microenvironment

Abstract

Physiological electric potential is well-known for its indispensable role in maintaining bone volume and quality. Although implanted biomaterials simulating structural, morphological, mechanical, and chemical properties of natural tissue or organ has been introduced in the field of bone regeneration, the concept of restoring physiological electric microenvironment remains ignored in biomaterials design. In this work, a flexible nanocomposite membrane mimicking the endogenous electric potential is fabricated to explore its bone defect repair efficiency. BaTiO3 nanoparticles (BTO NPs) were first coated with polydopamine. Then the composite membranes are fabricated with homogeneous distribution of Dopa@BTO NPs in poly(vinylidene fluoridetrifluoroethylene) (P(VDF-TrFE)) matrix. The surface potential of the nanocomposite membranes could be tuned up to -76.8 mV by optimizing the composition ratio and corona poling treatment, which conform to the level of endogenous biopotential. Remarkably, the surface potential of polarized nanocomposite membranes exhibited a dramatic stability with more than half of original surface potential remained up to 12 weeks in the condition of bone defect. In vitro, the membranes encouraged bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) activity and osteogenic differentiation. In vivo, the membranes sustainably maintained the electric microenvironment giving rise to rapid bone regeneration and complete mature bone-structure formation. Our findings evidence that physiological electric potential repair should be paid sufficient attention in biomaterials design, and this concept might provide an innovative and well-suited strategy for bone regenerative therapies.

Fabrication of Biocompatible Potassium Sodium Niobate Piezoelectric Ceramic as an Electroactive Implant

“…This inspires the use of an electro-active implant to improve healing and adaptation of the surrounding tissue, instead of external galvanism. Piezoelectric bioceramic could be an excellent alternative to hard tissue repair for its unique electroactivity [10,11,12,13]. …”

Time‐dependent effect of electrical stimulation on osteogenic differentiation of bone mesenchymal stromal cells cultured on conductive nanofibers

“…For example, piezoelectric poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and barium titanate (BaTiO 3 ) were found able to promote osteogenic differentiation of pluripotent stem cells . Zhang et al prepared a kind of PVDF/BaTiO 3 composite membrane to promote the regeneration of rat calvarial defect through sustainably maintained in vivo electric microenvironment . These observations spurred interests and successes in using external ES to enhance bone regeneration and healing .…”

Application of Stem Cells in Oral Disease Therapy: Progresses and Perspectives

“…In a recent study with DPSCs, the ROS-scavenging events of cerium nanomaterials (CeNMs) were related to the aspect ratio-dependent cellular internalization, suggesting the promising use of CeNMs to protect stem cells from the ROS-insult environments and ultimately improve the stem cell potential for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine (Mahapatra et al, 2017). In another study, it is reported that enhanced rapid bone regeneration and complete mature bone-structure formation was obtained when using the physiological electric potential and the fabricated nanocomposite membrane mimicking the endogenous electric potential (Zhang et al, 2016). It provides another strategy to compose novel scaffolds for dental stem cells.…”